Nuclear disarmament

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, left, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speak to members of the media after a classified briefing for members of Congress on Iran, Tuesday, May 21, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon on Thursday will present plans to the White House to send up to 10,000 more troops to the Middle East, in a move to beef up defenses against potential Iranian threats , U.S. officials said. The officials said no final decision has been made yet, and it's not clear if...

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2019, file photo, released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks at a meeting in Tehran, Iran. Iran’s supreme leader has publicly chastised the country’s moderate president and foreign minister, saying he disagreed with the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal they had negotiated with world powers. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's supreme leader publicly chastised the country's moderate president and foreign minister Wednesday, saying he disagreed with the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal they had negotiated with world powers. The extraordinary comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the first...

Former CIA Director John Brennan, left, and Wendy Sherman, right, a former State Department official and top negotiator of the Iran nuclear deal, arrive to meet with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., about the situation in Iran, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tamping down talk of war, top Trump administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that recent actions by the U.S. deterred attacks on American forces. But some lawmakers remained deeply skeptical of the White House approach in the Middle East. After a day of closed-door...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran quadrupled its uranium-enrichment production capacity amid tensions with the U.S. over Tehran's atomic program, nuclear officials said Monday, just after President Donald Trump and Iran's foreign minister traded threats and taunts on Twitter. Iranian officials made a point...

WASHINGTON (AP) — As questions mount over President Donald Trump's tough talk on Iran, top national security officials are heading to Capitol Hill to brief Congress. But skeptical Democrats have asked for a second opinion. The competing closed-door sessions Tuesday, unusual and potentially...

People inspect the site of an airstrike by Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, May, 16, 2019. Yemen's human rights minister says heavy fighting is underway in the country's south as rebel Houthis push to gain more territory from government forces and their allies. The clashes come as the Saudi-led coalition carried out airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, earlier on Thursday, targeting the Houthis and killing at least three civilians. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia accused Tehran of being behind a drone strike that shut down a key oil pipeline in the kingdom, and a newspaper close to the palace called for Washington to launch "surgical" strikes on Iran, raising the specter of escalating tensions as the U.S...

In this Thursday, May 9, 2019 photo released by the U.S. Navy, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln transits the Suez Canal in Egypt. The aircraft carrier and its strike group are deploying to the Persian Gulf on orders from the White House to respond to an unspecified threat from Iran. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Dan Snow, U.S. Navy via AP)

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday ordered all nonessential government staff to leave Iraq, and Germany and the Netherlands both suspended their military assistance programs in the country in the latest sign of tensions sweeping the Persian Gulf region over still-unspecified threats that the...

In this Thursday, May 9, 2019 photo released by the U.S. Navy, Aviation Maintenance Administrationman 2nd Class Jason Caldwell, assigned to the "Jolly Rogers" of Strike Fighter Squadron 103, observes sunrise on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln while transiting the Suez Canal in Egypt. The aircraft carrier and its strike group are deploying to the Persian Gulf on orders from the White House to respond to an unspecified threat from Iran. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Amber Smalley, U.S. Navy via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on developments in the Persian Gulf region and elsewhere in Mideast amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran (all times local): 6:30 p.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he has been urging Iran's leadership to stick to the nuclear...

A fishing boat sails in waters off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Monday, May 13, 2019. Saudi Arabia said Monday two of its oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates near Fujairah in attacks that caused "significant damage" to the vessels, one of them as it was en route to pick up Saudi oil to take to the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As many as four oil tankers anchored in the Mideast were damaged in what Gulf officials described Monday as a "sabotage" attack off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. While details of the incident remained unclear, it raised risks for shippers in a region...

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top diplomat says EU backers of the Iran nuclear deal will meet in Brussels to discuss ways to keep the pact afloat as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to the Belgian capital. Ahead of talks Monday with the foreign ministers of Britain, France and...